Sponsors
The bill increases safety and operational clarity at federally funded shelters by excluding registered sex offenders from those facilities, but it also reduces access to shelter services for registrants, raises criminalization and funding/administrative risks, and may shift harms into less-regulated shelters.
Parents, families, and children using federally funded domestic-violence and homeless shelters face reduced risk from registered sex offenders having on-site access.
Operators of federally funded shelters get a clear statutory rule and an explicit option to refer registered offenders to non‑federally funded facilities, simplifying decision-making and liability exposure.
People required to register may be denied access to federally funded homeless or domestic‑violence shelter services, increasing housing instability for low‑income and homeless individuals.
Criminal penalties (up to 5 years) for registrants who enter shelters or fail to self‑identify may deter people from seeking help, potentially worsening public safety and welfare.
Federally funded shelters risk losing federal grants for a year if they inadvertently serve a registrant, creating funding instability for organizations that serve vulnerable populations.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Bars individuals on the National Sex Offender Registry from receiving services or shelter at federally funded domestic violence and homeless shelters and penalizes shelters that violate the ban by withholding federal funds.
Introduced February 20, 2026 by Nancy Mace · Last progress February 20, 2026
Prohibits individuals required to register on the National Sex Offender Registry from receiving services or staying at any federally funded domestic violence or homeless shelter and makes shelters that violate the ban ineligible for federal funds for the next fiscal year. It also bars those registered individuals from entering or using such covered shelters (except briefly to ask about other shelters), requires them to immediately tell shelter staff of their registration if they enter, and creates criminal penalties (fine and/or up to 5 years imprisonment) for knowingly violating the ban or the notification rule; the shelter-use ban and related provisions take effect 180 days after enactment.